6/30/2008 Listening Lounge

The Plan, Barrett Golding's half-hour radio shows cast a very wide sonic and thematic net for each topical half-hour, writes reviewer Gary Covino. This one, about trains, starts with a very funny and quirky interaction between Amtrak's sort-of-human but really mechanical telephone ticket attendant and a mixed-up, not-quite-sure-where-to-go-next actually human potential passenger. From there it's on to Pullman Porters, an amazing hobo story, pure sound and music -- with the elements flowing from one to the other with a kind of intuitive grace. (By the way, if Barrett rides the trains again for this series, it would be worth checking out Reverend A.W. Nix's incredible 'Black Diamond Express Train To Hell' sermon.) This is the kind of show that sends your mind and spirit off to some very unexpected place when it pops out of your radio. Public radio in general used to do that a whole lot more than it does these days. Maybe, one day, it will again. We can always hope...